WHEN Harold saw Ruth after she secured the position with the Wing Mortgage Company one of the first things she wanted to know was why he had asked over the 'phone as to her associations with men. "I heard that you had been keeping company with a disreputable young man, and I wanted to prove that I was the man," he said.
"Who said I had been keeping bad company?"
"Your former employer."
"Stover?"
"Yes. I had just learned through my friend Wilson that someone had told Wing that you associated with a disreputable young man and that was the reason you did not get the job. I guessed at once that it was Stover. Wilson admitted it was he. I wanted to know if you had been with any other men so that I would know how to talk to Stover. When I talked to him he said that he didn't mean his nephew, so there wasn't anyone for him to mean but me. I went to Wing then and confessed that I was the disreputable young man."
"I just knew that you had something to do with my getting that job. Of course Stover spoke that way of you because you belong to the Klan."
"Yes, he pretends so; but the real reason is because he can't use me or bribe me. As I told you before, Stover is a crook and one of these days I will prove it to you and to the world. I know why you lost your job at the bank. It was on my account, wasn't it?"
"I don't have to answer, do I?"
"No. I know."
"I want to thank you for helping me get the job and especially for setting me right in the estimation of Mr. Wing. I certainly appreciate it."
"It was a great pleasure to be of some little assistance to you, but I am the one who is indebted for a job. You are the one who secured me my chance. How can I repay you?"
"Who's been tattling?" she asked, laughing.
"Your friend, Miss Welty, told me the last trip I made to the capital."
"She's a piker; she told me she wouldn't tell."
"Well, she didn't exactly tell. I got her to admit it. She said that you talked like a professional salesman in selling me to her father."
"It wasn't difficult. You see I had a good article to sell. When your goods have real merit it isn't hard to make a s............